Improvement in key-hole guards



w. H. TAYLOR.

Key-Hole Guards.

PatentedAugpstIZ,1873.

memes;

AM. PHDTO-LITHOGRAPH/C ca 111 (bayou/v51: P5100555] UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WARREN H. TAYLOR, OF STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN KEY-HOLE GUARDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 141,833, dated August 12, 1873 application filed January 25, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WARREN H. TAYLOR, of Stamford, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Lock for Post-Office Letter-Boxes; and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon making a part of this specification.

This invention consists of a stop-key, which is inserted in the key-hole of a post-office boxlock from the interior of the box, and retained therein by means of a stationary tooth or projection thereon, which fits in a notch in the lock-shell, for the purpose of preventing the unlocking of the door from the outside.

To prevent the opening of the door from the outside, it has been customary heretofore either to provide the bolt with a projecting pin, which could be turned upward into a slot provided for the purpose, thereby locking the bolt, or else to drill a small hole into some revolving part of the lock, the insertion of a pin into which from behind would prevent the revolution of the lock, and thereby prevent its opening. The objection to the first of these devices is that, by the insertion of mail matter in the box, the bolt is frequently locked unintentionally; and a still further objection to both this device and the other is, that neither of them prevent the insertion of the key in the look, so that the box-renter, attempting to unlock the door, is at a loss to know whether he is intentionally locked out, or whether the lock does not operate properly. If he assumes the latter to be the case he may injure the lock by attempting to forcibly open it with the key. lVith my device, however, neither of these difficulties is encountered.

The insertion of the stop-key in the key-hole of the look from behind effectually prevents the box-renter from even inserting his key, and he is thus at once made aware that the box is purposely closed against him, and that To prevent the opening of the box by the" renter when it is desired to collect box-rent or postage, I provide the stop-key D, having upon its edge the tooth or projection d, which, when the stop-key is inserted in the look from behind, enters into a notch or hole, 0, in the shell of the lock, (which I prefer to be of the kind known as the Yale pin-lock,) thus closing the key-hole and preventing the box-renter from even inserting his key in the lock. As the obstruction thus presented cannot be removed from the outside, the use of the box is denied to the renter until he has paid the arrearages of rent or postage, and the stopkey is removed by the postmaster.

To transmit the rotary motion of the lock to the sliding bolt I attach to the former a sheet-metal hook, f, which projects into an elongated slot in the bolt F, against the rear end of which it bears. A very slight motion of the lock will, it is evident, suffice to draw the bolt back, while the prolongation of the slot behind the hook f permits the bolt to retract when the door is pushed to.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The stop-key having a stationary tooth or projection which enters a notch in the shell of the lock, said stop-key being inserted in the key-hole from the inside, and preventing the insertion of a key from the outside, substantially as herein set forth.

Witnesses: WARREN H. TAYLOR.

HENRY R. ToWNE, E. T. GREENE. 

